Averatec Buddy

The Averatec Buddy is a 10.2 inch netbook that comes equipped with a WXGA Wide Screen LCD with AveraBrite technology capable of delivering a 1024 x 600 pixel native CD resolution. Besides that, it is also complies with Microsoft DirectX and OpenGL as well as supports multiple displays including LCD and external monitors. There are also side mounted headphone and microphone ports. The Averatec Buddy falls under the budget netbooks category.
Specifications
The Averatec Buddy measures 260 mm x 180 mm x 31 mm (L x W x H) in dimension and weighs approximately 1.2 kg. The casing is made out of a composite and is available only in black. In general, the Averatec Buddy runs on a Windows XP Home Edition operating system. It is powered by a three cell Li-ion battery. Alternatively, it can also be directly powered via its provided AC adapter. There is an LCD TFT main display that measures 10.2 inches diagonally with a WXGA resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Besides that, it also has widescreen capabilities. In terms of storage, the Averatec Buddy incorporates an internal Serial ATA hard disk drive that has a capacity of 160 GB, which is the maximum possible storage capacity that can be supported. There is also a built-in 4-in-1 card reader that is compatible with SD, MS, MSPD and MMC memory cards. In addition to that, the Averatec Buddy also runs on an Intel Atom N270 central processing unit with a processor clock of 1600 MHz. Besides that, it also incorporates the Intel 945 GMS + ICH7 chipset that has a data bus speed of 533 MHz. It also incorporates a DDR2 SDRAM memory of 1 GB with the ability to support up to 2 GB, as well as a data bus speed of 400 MHz and over. In addition to that, the RAM also comes in the form factor of a SO DIMM 200-pin. Not only that, the Averatec Buddy also sports an L2 Cache of 512 KB. In terms of connectivity, the Averatec Buddy has a VGA output, audio-in, audio-out (headphone jack), and USB 2.0. Besides that, the Averatec Buddy also has compatibility with Ethernet 802.11b/g connections. Additional features include a standard 82-keyboard that is of full size with an 18.05 key pitch and 2.1 mm key stroke. There are also sports features including a synaptics touchpad with 2-way virtual scroll. In addition to that, it also has an integrated sound card. There is also a built-in 1.3 mega pixel camera that is situated right on top of the screen. Input devices consist of keyboard and touchpad. The Averatec Buddy also has a networking adapter that supports Wireless LAN for IEEE 802.11 b/g. In terms of interfaces, the Averatec Buddy has three Hi-speed USB ports, four pin USB Type A, one microphone input mini-phone 3.5 mm, one headphones output mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, one Network-Ethernet 10 Base-T/100 Base-TX RJ-45, and one Display video VGA 15 pin HD D-sub (HD-15). The Averatec Buddy also comes pre-installed with software including Adobe Reader 8.0, Wild Tangent Game Pack and Norton AntiVirus trial version. The Averatec Buddy is under a one year limited parts and labour warranty. Not only that, there is also a vertical scroll function on the Averatec Buddy that requires you to tap on the upper and lower corner to scroll up and down the pages instead of the usual scrolling on the touch pad itself.
Reviews

“The Buddy’s three cell battery does not even run for 2 hours complete which is much less than the battery life of Asus Eee PC 901 whose six cell battery runs for more than 5 hours.” (TechnoTalks, 2008)

“The netbook HS-102 does not offer much if we compare with another netbooks but the design is much better than previous version of Buddy HS-101.” (DailyDigitals, 2008)

“The Averatec Buddy N1030EA1E-1 may look very familiar to many people. That is because the system is essentially a clone of the popular MSI Wind U100 netbook computer. This mens that it shares some of the good and bad with the MSI unit. One of the nice features is the LCD display with its Anti-Reflective coating that makes it much easy to use in bright conditions compared to glossy screens. The big downside though is the very small 3-cell battery that gives it very short battery life.” (CompReviews, 2009)